Glendon Swarthout - Author

About the Author

Glendon Swarthout wrote sixteen novels, many of which were bestsellers and were made into films, among them Seventh Cavalry, They Came to Cordura, Where the Boys Are, Bless the Beasts & Children, and A Christmas to Remember. He was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and won a number of other awards, including the Western Writers Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Featured books by Glendon Swarthout

The Homesman is a devastating, humane story of early pioneers to America's West in the 1850's. It celebrates the ones we hear nothing of-the brave women whose hearts and minds were broken by that life of bitter hardship. When a nineteen-year-old mother loses her three children to diphtheria in three days, or a woman left alone for two nights has to shoot wolves as they crash through the window, it is no wonder they should lose their minds. After a dreadful winter, the Rev. Dowd finds there are four such cases in his parish and, as yet, no asylum in this frontier town. A 'homesman' must be found to escort the women East to civilization. Not a job anyone would volunteer for, it falls to Mary Bee Cuddy, ex-teacher, spinster-indomitable, resourceful, plain as an old tin pail. Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she cannot succeed alone, and the only companion available is the low-life and untrustworthy George Briggs, a claim-jumper.Thus begins a trek East, against the tide of colonization, against hardship, Indian attacks, ice storms, loneliness, and the unceasing aggravation of a disparate group of mad women, which provides a series of tough, fast-paced adventures and introduces two wonderful, idiosyncratic characters. Coming to cinemas in 2014 with an incredible cast - featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank and John Lithgow. Not to be missed!

The Homesman is a devastating, humane story of early pioneers to America's West in the 1850's. It celebrates the ones we hear nothing of-the brave women whose hearts and minds were broken by that life of bitter hardship. When a nineteen-year-old mother loses her three children to diphtheria in three days, or a woman left alone for two nights has to shoot wolves as they crash through the window, it is no wonder they should lose their minds. After a dreadful winter, the Rev. Dowd finds there are four such cases in his parish and, as yet, no asylum in this frontier town. A 'homesman' must be found to escort the women East to civilization. Not a job anyone would volunteer for, it falls to Mary Bee Cuddy, ex-teacher, spinster-indomitable, resourceful, plain as an old tin pail. Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she cannot succeed alone, and the only companion available is the low-life and untrustworthy George Briggs, a claim-jumper.Thus begins a trek East, against the tide of colonization, against hardship, Indian attacks, ice storms, loneliness, and the unceasing aggravation of a disparate group of mad women, which provides a series of tough, fast-paced adventures and introduces two wonderful, idiosyncratic characters. Coming to cinemas in 2014 with an incredible cast - featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank and John Lithgow. Not to be missed!

The Homesman opens in the 1850s, when early pioneers are doing anything they can to survive dreadful conditions. Women especially struggle with broken hearts and minds as they face bitter hardships: One nineteen-year-old mother loses her three children to diphtheria in three days; another woman left alone for two nights is forced to shoot wolves to protect herself. The situation calls for a homesman -a person charged with taking these women, driven mad by the conditions of rural life, to asylums in the East. Not exactly a job people are lining up for, it falls to Mary Bee Cuddy, an ex-teacher and spinster, who is indomitable, resourceful, and plain as an old tin pail. Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she can't make it alone, so she takes along her only available companion: the lowlife and untrustworthy George Briggs. Mary Bee and George know it won't be easy, but their endurance is truly tested as they fight the tide of colonization, Indian attacks, ice storms, loneliness, and the unceasing aggravation of a disparate group of mad women. This is the tale of their journey and a tribute to the men and women who homesteaded the frontier, whether they survived or not.

By the author of The Homesman , now a major motion picture The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a gunfighter at the turn of the twentieth century who must confront the greatest Shootist of all: Death. Most men would end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a gunfighter has a third option, one that Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner. As word spreads that the famous assassin has incurable cancer, an assortment of human vultures gathers to feast on the corpse-among them a gambler, a rustler, a clergyman, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even an admiring teenager. What follows is the last courageous act in Books's own legend. This classic, Spur Award-winning novel was chosen by the Western Writers of America as one of the best western novels ever written and was the inspiration for John Wayne's last great starring role in the acclaimed 1976 film adaptation. The Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author's son, Miles Swarthout, in which he discusses his father's work and the making of the legendary film.

';Send Us a Boy . . . We'll Send You a Cowboy!' is the slogan of the Box County Boy's Camp. But for the nail-biters, thumb-suckers, and teeth-grinders—the castaway offspring of parents who are busy traveling, being divorced, remarrying, and garnering fortunes—it's just another place to find rejection. The other campers and counselors pick upon them mercilessly, calling them ';the Bedwetters.' But when a herd of buffalo is slaughtered before their eyes, they are galvanized into action. Their leader, Cotton, takes them on a fantastic mission to sneak out of camp and save the remaining buffalo—and, in the process, to save themselves. But as the raw red Arizona sun rises, they will discover the cost of their one grand moment of glory. ';A tremendous tour de force.'—Hollywood Reporter

The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a man of principle and the only surviving gunfighter in a vanishing American West. He rides into El Paso in the year 1901, on the day of Queen Victoria's demise, there to be told by a doctor that he must soon confront the greatest Shootist of all: Death himself. In such a showdown against such an antagonist, J. B. Books cannot win. Most men may end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a mankiller has a third option, one which Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner. As the word spreads that the famous assassin has reached the end of his rope, an assortment of vultures gathers to feast upon the corpse -- among them a gambler, a rustler, a clergyman, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even a teenager. Books outwits them, however, by selecting the where, when, who and why of his death and writing in fire from a pair of matched Remingtons the last courageous act of his own legend. The climatic gunfight itself is an incredible performance by an incredible man, and by his creator, Glendon Swarthout.